About Me

I am the proud mother of 6 children. 5 of our children have autism. We do not feel our world has ended, but just begun. We do not chelate, intervene biochemically, give shots of any kind, practice ABA, etc.
We treat them as we treat any humanbeing. We treat them with kindness and respect and expect the same from them.
They are exceptional children.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

THE CULT OF NEURODIVERSITY...

For those of you who are new to me and my blog...may I say welcome.To those of you who have read my blog for a while...may I say Thank You.

Recently, the forums that I read daily have taken a weird turn. The Biomedical community, besides quoting complete whack jobs (so-called authorities) for their "discovery" that autism is Mercury Poisoning (WHATEVER) are stating the the Neurodiverse community is a CULT. First and foremost, is that the Pot calling the Kettle BLACK or what?

The Neurodiverse DO NOT put every quacky doctor who preaches what they want to believe on a pedestal. The Neurodiverse DO NOT push untested and unregulated medicine into their children's bodies. The Neurodiverse DO NOT resort to horrible name-calling when they are proving the theories of the Biomedical community wrong.

I fell in love with Autism in 1972, when as an 11 year old girl, I was chosen to babysit a 2 year old boy with autism. This young boy was a handful..he did not want to sleep at bedtime, he did not want to keep a diaper on, he did not want to eat.....etc. As a young girl, I was baffled by what to do....After several nights of babysitting, I came to love watching him and his ways of doing things. This family moved after a year of me babysitting. This little boy would be 35 years old now...God I am OLD.

Next came my job at a residential treatment center when I was 24 years old. I worked with adolescent autistic teenage girls. These girls were very much like my Caitlin. They would jump up and flap, they would covet their items, they would rock and stim...the only problem was, they were heavily medicated. That is what they did with these children in the 1980's. They did not realize they could educate these amazing children. The doctors wrote them off as mentally retarded....I knew better. These girls would be in their early 30's now.....God I am really OLD.

Then finally, came my real awakening into Autism. 16 years ago, I gave birth to Caitlin. What mother would not be in awe of this brilliant child.Yes, she did not talk until she was 9 years old....maybe, she had nothing to say. She walked by 9 months and played with her toys...maybe, not the way a Biomedical person would want their child to play, but in the way Caitlin wanted to play. Caitlin always did things a bit differently. In ballet class, she would be in the circle, but face the opposite direction. This was okay, because she was participating...according to the teacher. In gymnastics, Caitlin was in the boy's group....she did better there. In art class, Caitlin excelled. She does drawings that Pollack would be proud to call his own. She has caught the eye of many an art dealer. I have only had the heart to sell one of her portraits.

Caitlin led the way to how we treat all of our autistic children and our NT child. Caitlin let us know that she was happy, healthy, alert, smart, artistic, athletic, gifted and brilliant....Caitlin let us know that she was not a label, but a thriving human being.Caitlin has enabled us to have the knowledge and foresight to raise our other children to be the best they can be....

I am so proud to be part of the Neurodiverse community....I am sure my children will be welcome with open arms....now that is a CULT I can live with.

12 comments:

I was reading in a magazine this week that mercury is not in vaccines here any longer. Going to ask my Ped when on Fri. Going to ask him if his patient load is getting smaller. I'm guess the 2nd is "no".

We use the labels to fight the system. Otherwise... we don't live for it. It's not a sentence... my 7 yr old doesn't even know he has autism and is old enough and "normal" enough to be told.

What's the pt??

It's almost reassuring that after 5 yrs of being off the autism bb's... nothing's really changed.

I worked in a special needs hospital in the late seventies and the way the residents were treated was a million miles away from today.Here, adults with special need now live in houses in the community with one or two others with similar conditions and their lives are so much better for it.I can't believe that I saw this kind of care in the 70's and accepted it.Thankfully we have come a long way since.

"maybe, not the way a Biomedical person would want their child to play."

Portraying a Biomed person as wanting to wipe out their child's autistic 'personality' is like portraying an ND person as not wanting to their child have any therapies because it might ruin their child's 'autistic-ness'. Both are only true on the extreme fringes, neither is true for the vast majority...

Hope the winds in Austin did not impact you directly. Light a candle down there for them for me, will you...

Please. Just because some of us don't believe in "medical" intervention does not mean we are cult members. I'll be the first to admit that this is a DIFFICULT life, but I wouldn't change it for anything. Some of us LIKE the way our kids are. And he is happy. Why would I want to change that?

I am sure some of those parents are doing what they think is best for their child. But I know there are others looking for a "cure". If only they could see the positive side.

Mom, Your quackbusters disguised as neurodiverse nitwits have told you that chelating drugs are unsafe and untested. The truth is that chelation has been used safely for over 60 years. Joseph, Kathleen, Kevin, Prometheus and others are simply liars who are using you to further the interests of the drug companies.I love my son the way he is too, just like one loves a baby and doesn't want it to grow up too fast. The reality is that if I don't help him to start progressing, he'll be like a baby forever mentally. You've been fed a pack of lies by some clever and evil people who have you selling their evil for them. Please discuss this with reasonable people and get away from these slimeballs. Go read what Tim Bolen has to say about them.

Camille, Calling someone who speaks the truth a troll does not negate the fact that your deception is hazardous to disabled children. Calling cures for autism "altie woo" does not make those cures "altie woo". Chelation is a valid cure for mercury poisoning as agreed to by your Dr David Gorski. It has been the standard treatment for mercury poisoning for over 60 years. Your blatant lies that try to tell parents this is not true harms children. You are a criminal.